Source: Agence France Presse
Security & Justice
Watch: Israeli Army Blows Up Village Near the Border
The Israeli army is still blowing up entire villages or neighborhoods, especially those near the border.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Hezbollah Says Launched ‘Big Rocket Salvo’ at Israel’s Safed
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it fired rockets at the northern Israeli city of Safed on Monday, the latest attack in more than a month of war.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Wednesday 30 October 2024 17:48:27
Saudi Hosts Meeting of New Group Pushing for Palestinian State
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday hosted the first meeting of a new "international alliance" to press for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Unveiled last month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the "International Alliance to Implement the Two-State Solution" brings together nations from the Middle East, Europe and beyond.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said nearly 90 "states and international organisations" were taking part in the two-day meeting in Riyadh.
"A genocide is happening with the goal of evicting the Palestinian people from their land, which Saudi Arabia rejects," he said, describing the humanitarian situation as "catastrophic" and denouncing the "complete blockade" of northern Gaza.
The Riyadh meeting was expected to focus on humanitarian access, the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees and measures to advance a two-state solution, diplomats said.
The European Union was set to be represented by Sven Koopmans, the special representative for the Middle East peace process, diplomats said.
The United States, Israel's most important military backer, sent Hady Amr, the State Department's special representative for Palestinian affairs.
The Gaza war has revived talk of a "two-state solution" in which Israeli and Palestinian states would live in peace side by side, though analysts say the goal seems more unattainable than ever.
The hard-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains implacably opposed to Palestinian statehood.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and custodian of Islam's two holiest sites, paused US-brokered talks on recognising Israel after the Gaza war broke out between Palestinian militants Hamas and Israel.
In September, the kingdom's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said an "independent Palestinian state" was a condition for normalisation.
Prince Faisal reiterated that position on Wednesday.
Ireland, Norway and Spain announced their recognition of a Palestinian state in May, prompting an angry response from Israel.
Slovenia soon joined them, bringing the number of countries that recognise a Palestinian state to 146 out of the 193 UN member states.
The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 43,061 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
